Social barriers and stigma are holding back women's development in the country, observed speakers at a discussion in the capital yesterday.

The discussion titled “Role of Women in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)” was jointly organised at The Daily Star Centre by LEAD Council for Policy and Research (LCPR) and Zonta International with assistance from United Nations Global Compact.

In order to achieve the development goals of UN, women need to have autonomy in decision making and access to equal opportunity, said Louise Cowcher, development director of British Council in Bangladesh. Girls and women can move forward if their skills are developed, she added.

Rubaba Dowla, co-founder and managing director of a cloud-based telemedicine platform, said fundamental barriers to women development, especially as entrepreneurs, are unavailability of funds, nonexistence of mentors and lack of support from family and society.

Mentioning that she had experienced wage disparities in comparison with her male colleagues, Rubaba, a veteran of 19 years at two leading corporate houses in the country, said, “Women always have to face the challenge of proving their worth in every stage.” 

Women have a vital role in accomplishing all the SDG goals, said Catherine Cecil, team leader of Prokas, a DFID-funded programme.

Fakrul Ahsan, SDG lead at UNDP Bangladesh, said women are better users of resources. Women constitute half the country's population and development without women is just impossible.

Dr Rubina Hussain, vice-president of Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs; Sangeeta Khan, director of Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Bitopi Das Chowdhury, corporate head of Standard Chartered Bank; spoke among others while Ashfaq Zaman, president of a global leadership programme LEAD; moderated the programme.